


Duramen

by Amaratsu



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M, Romance, Tragedy, slow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:27:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24615271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amaratsu/pseuds/Amaratsu
Summary: It wasn't supposed to be like this.How did Pyrrha Nikos, The Invincible Girl, The Champion, fall for tall, blond, and scraggly over there?A character study that follows the development of one of RWBY's most tragic relationships, and how it came to be.(Crossposted on fanfiction.net)
Relationships: Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Despite what some might have believed, Pyrrha _was_ a seventeen-year-old girl. She _had_ had thoughts about love and romance before, they just never seemed all that important. What girl didn't fantasize about finding something special? What girl didn't indulge in occasional dreams of a heart-stopping smile and smooth confidence.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Her 'prince charming' wore a onesie for Oum's sake.

Contrary to what her friends (Yang) seemed to think, it had _not_ been love at first sight. She'd just… created an opportunity. She was a champion, four-time champion in fact, breaking through an enemy's defense was drilled into her very bones. In the ring, you either capitalized on a mistake… or you made one. Her Semblance made that easy enough, a change to the angle of a strike here, a shift in armor there, but she was no one-trick pony; She'd been drilled for years in the art of combat even before she'd fully incorporated her natural gift into her style. Granted, this particular 'opportunity' had been more social than combat based, but she had been desperate. She hadn't even made it through a day at Beacon before the whispers started. Her potential classmates had, in her experience, fallen into one of two categories. Most had simply stared at her from afar, like some kind of exotic animal in a cage. Impressed, intimidated, but most certainly not friendly. Those people had compared themselves to her and found themselves lacking, cutting her off from them as effectively as the steel bars of an enclosure.

Weiss had been different, but not necessarily better.

The heiress hadn't been too afraid to seek her out, but she'd only been interested in The Champion: The four-time tournament sweeper, the prodigy, the goddess of victory. She hadn't been interested in the girl that hid underneath. Pyrrha, however, hadn't had a glut of options so she'd simply given the other girl a practiced smile through a cracked mask of nonchalance.

Then he'd bumbled his way into her life. She had to confess that she hadn't been too impressed. He was… clumsy, disturbingly so for a prospective huntsman, a boy desperately trying to pretend to be a man. She had been able to tell at a glance that he wasn't anything impressive. He wore his armor as if unused to it, and she could tell by the way he was constantly shifting his balance that he'd yet to grow accustomed to the weight of the weapon on his side. She'd nearly written him off as just another incorrigible flirt desperately trying (and failing) to get a notch on his bedpost… except… He was trying _so_ hard. Trying to be confident, trying to be interesting, trying desperately to get them to just _look at him_. It… resonated with her in a weird way. Pyrrha was always working to be tame, nonthreatening, _normal_. She didn't raise her voice, was unfailingly courteous, and kept a polite smile on her face at all times. This boy struck her as the opposite. Where she tried to hide her excellence, he struggled to push past his normalcy. There was something inspiring about that; Something she almost missed by not reading any deeper, and she would have had he not brushed her off without even a hint of interest. It was rather intriguing to meet someone who'd lump her fame in with that of a cartoon character… especially since she had the feeling he would have been more interested in her were she actually associated with one.

Then Weiss had opened her mouth and she'd thought the girl had ruined it all. "Do you really think you're in a position to ask _her_ to be on your team?"

She was fortunate. No one seemed to notice the way her brows lowered, the momentary hurt that flashed through her eyes, the sadness that crept in as the boy slumped in defeat. "I guess not… sorry." He'd said, his voice defeated, and Pyrrha had somehow _known_ that that had been his expectation from the beginning. That he'd known what was coming, and yet mustered up the courage to try anyway. He was so… so legitimate. At least when the mask fell and the boy beneath came to the surface.

She'd moved without thinking, wanting to say something, anything, she laid a gentle hand on his shoulder to get his attention and said something she wasn't really sure she meant: "Actually Jaune, I think you'd make a great leader." The words carried a slight edge, one she was certain the haughty heiress missed, but the boy's reaction was immediate. Eyes like saucers had blinked at her for a baffled moment before a goofy grin had spread across his face.

"D'oh, stop it!" He'd gasped, clasping his hands in front of him. He'd known. Despite her speaking skills, despite privately thinking he would never notice, he'd known she was just saying things. It was in his voice, in the very words he spoke, but she could tell he'd appreciated someone professing to believe in him anyway. Like he was so unused to it that even simple lip-service was a big deal to him.

Why?

Her words had had a reaction, just not necessarily the one she would have preferred. The mask of confidence was clumsily pulled back on, and she'd ended up nailing him to the wall when his overeager attempts to recruit Weiss had gone on long enough.

"It was nice meeting you." She'd said politely as she'd pulled Miló out of the wall with her semblance.

She'd expected him to be silent, cowed by her actions, or perhaps even angry but unwilling to show it. Instead, he'd surprised her again. "Likewise." He'd said with a sigh. No anger, no disappointment aimed at her or the prickly girl beside her. Once again, it was like he'd expected it from the beginning. The only person he was upset with was himself.

That had given her pause, enough of one to catch the words he spoke to Ruby when she'd helped him up: "I don't understand… My dad said all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?"

The mask had fallen again, revealing the boy beneath who struggled to comprehend, but he'd stood up anyway with help and hobbled off.

Pyrrha had taken longer to leave. She'd thought at the time that she'd been reading too far into things, but something about him had drawn her attention. The way he'd so clearly stepped out of his comfort zone, tried to be something he most distinctly _was not_ , even going so far as to try again _immediately_ as soon as he'd failed. She had respected that… sort of.

They had called Pyrrha a prodigy back at Sanctum and that had been no misnomer. She excelled at the art of combat and while she'd put no end of blood, sweat, and tears into her training, she'd _seen_ results. Results that had driven her to continue moving forward.

Pyrrha believed in destiny, in fate. That's what kept her moving, what kept her training and fighting and growing.

It also held her back.

If she had to admit to any weakness, it would (ironically) be the sin of sloth (She could practically hear Nora protesting the negative use of that word already). She was too passive, too willing to let the chips fall where they may when it came to fixing what she struggled with. She believed in destiny and so believed that fate had something in store for her, flaws and all.

Her social life was a rather glaring example of the phenomenon.

She'd fled Mistral, choosing Beacon over Haven in hopes of growing past the crushing pressure her fame had put on her shoulders, but as soon as the whispers had started she'd clammed up again with that same showman's smile.

At heart, she'd realized in her own unique way she was a quitter. She'd been blessed with talent, and while she'd worked _hard_ to harness it, she'd put little of the same effort into ironing out her flaws. When Pyrrha ran into a brick wall she tended to pack up and head back to safer haunts.

She had the feeling Jaune would bash his head against it until it crumbled, or, more likely, until he was a bloody smear on the bricks. A little unfair of her to think at the time perhaps, but she _had_ pinned him to the wall awfully easily.

She'd look back on having that thought later and _blush_.

Perhaps someone like Weiss would have called him foolish, but she admired the tenacity to fight fate. Combine that with his utter lack of reaction to her and she felt she couldn't be blamed for her flicker of interest.

Jaune had seen her as a person and treated her like anyone else. Oh, he was suitably impressed with her mascot gig (of all things), but he'd been far from starstruck.

Perhaps that was the reason a tiny, mutinous portion of her mind had whispered the words that would later damn her.

_If I had to choose a teammate… I don't think I'd mind it too much if it were him._

/*/

In all fairness, she blamed that part of her mind for what happened next.

Maybe it was all the talk about how important it was to be paired with someone she could work well with, maybe it was the shock of hearing that whoever she locked eyes with would be the one who'd be her partner for the next four years, maybe it was the fact that she'd been placed on the launchpad directly beside _Weiss_ of all people.

To put it delicately: Pyrrha had panicked. She'd panicked hard.

Looking back, she was actually pretty thankful that Jaune had had no landing strategy whatsoever. His desperate flailing as they fell together after being launched off the cliffs of Beacon had made it difficult to perform a rescue, but it had given her the excuse she'd needed to leap into action. She'd turned a few trees into kindling when she'd smashed through them on her way down, Akoúo̱ and her Aura allowing her to take the impacts in stride until she'd bled enough speed to funnel the rest into a roll across one final tree branch. She'd barely taken the time to think, but she _had_ taken the time to properly aim and maintain her form for the second throw in one day that would nail the boy in place by his hoodie.

She'd found him a few minutes later, after ducking out of sight to avoid locking eyes with the heiress (Seriously, was someone out to get her or something?). Fortunately for her, said heiress took one look at Jaune as he desperately tried to pull the spear free and turned tail to claim Ruby instead.

The blonde's dejection at the rejection had been palpable, and she'd been unable to hide the teasing tone that crept into her voice as she'd stepped out to look up at him with crossed arms. "Do you… have any spots left on your team?"

"Very funny." The boy had grouched, crossing his own arms and pouting. She'd not needed to worry, because the soft smile he'd sent her way immediately afterwards showed his gratitude.

It had also made her heart skip a beat (No Yang, not for that reason!).

She couldn't remember the last time someone had spoken to her like that, like she wasn't some untouchable being on a pedestal or a talent waiting to be exploited. Jaune's tone had contained none of the awe or hunger she'd come to expect from those around her, and it was so wonderfully refreshing.

When was the last time someone had acted like a friend would?

When was the last time she'd _had_ a friend?

She'd been utterly unable to hide the way her eyes narrowed in excitement, nor the pleased expression that crept across her features.

Discovering his utter lack of knowledge about anything Aura related had been a rather telling setback, but she'd rolled with it well enough. She'd figured that you could teach to assuage ignorance, but it was nearly impossible to fix a bad personality.

She hadn't had to look much further than the interaction that lead to that discovery to get an example of that. Gunfire had rung out in the distance and she'd moved ahead without a thought of consideration for the partner behind her. Used to working alone, she'd simply pushed a branch out of her way and let it snap back without a moment's thought.

Even if he'd possessed Aura, it would have been a stupid mistake. She'd attempted to justify her surprise at the time; Wondered why he hadn't used his Aura to block the blow or heal his wound. But… even if he'd possessed the power, why would he have concentrated it in her direction?

It hadn't been much of an attack, but she'd still carelessly let a blow land on someone who'd trusted her to take point. Even if he'd had Aura, it would have still been a foolish mistake. Should she have expected him _not_ to be upset? Perfectly fine with wasting some of the precious energy to block or heal an injury caused by a branch she _let_ hit him?

Stupid.

Careless.

So of _course_ the first thing he'd done was try and reassure her. Of _course_ the first thing he'd think to do when he found himself flat on his rear and bleeding from a cut across _half his face_ had been to laugh it off as 'just a scratch'. The thought that she might have been at fault never even crossed his mind.

Maybe that's why she'd been so forgiving of his lack of knowledge. Maybe that's why she was willing to unlock the power of his soul with her own.

She'd… she'd never done that before. Never reached out to tap into the spirit of another. She was grateful for Jaune's ignorance at that moment, he never seemed to realize just how personal her actions had been. Her Aura had served as the spark that would light the blaze that would protect him, and while she hadn't lied when she'd told him that the energy protecting him was his own, her touch remained on his soul.

She didn't think Jaune ever realized what that moment had meant. By the time his Aura had burst into radiance like a shining star, she'd already been retracting her own. If she hadn't, perhaps he would have had the same opportunity to peek into her soul as she had his.

Pyrrha's soul was red. Red like her hair, like the rust that fell from the metals her Semblance held dominion over. Red like the blood she'd spilled in her training, red like the pulse that pounded in her brain during a competition. Red like victory, hard won and well fought.

Jaune's was the purest white. If you'd asked the Pyrrha of just minutes before she unlocked it, she would have hypothesized that it represented his innocence. That Pyrrha would have expected to find all the power of a little lost lamb. Only enough to buy him the time he needed for the shepherd to step in.

That Pyrrha would have been wrong.

If Pyrrha's Aura was like a bonfire, tall and blazing with pride and righteous fury, Jaune's was a star. She hadn't been prepared for the sheer _pull_ of the hungry fire within him, greedily drinking her Aura like a plant starved for water and kick-starting an _explosion_ of energy that dwarfed even her own. Her soul was focused, sharpened to a razor's edge and hammered into crystalline perfection. His was clumsy and all-encompassing, like warm sunlight on your face on a quiet summer day. Gentle and kind; Honest and oh so clumsy, but undeniably him. An outer shell of gentle warmth with an inner core of white-hot determination and a hunger to prove himself.

When she'd stumbled back from him his voice had been concerned, afraid even, as he'd called her name in alarm. She'd reassured him immediately that she was fine, but she'd had the strangest impression that he'd have traded her gift back to her without a second thought if she'd harmed herself giving it.

She hadn't known how to process that, or the look of wonder and gratitude on his face when he'd stared down at his glowing hands in quiet amazement, so she hadn't. They'd moved on and if he'd noticed her distraction, he'd kept it to himself. She'd been grateful for that at the time, letting him take the lead.

Not her best decision. The soul was a nebulous thing, shifting and changing even if some things stayed constant. She'd seen the soul of a warrior in him, a leader, but that certainly didn't mean he had been either of those things at the time.

His girlish scream when they'd encountered the Deathstalker in the cave he'd lead them into proved that rather handily.

Said Deathstalker throwing Jaune across half the Emerald Forest hadn't been ideal. It had, however, given them the chance to link up with the other initiates and actually find the relic they'd been searching for in the first place; So Pyrrha had accepted it as a necessary evil.

Perhaps that's when Pyrrha first saw the signs of the man he would become.

Days, perhaps even months after the events of that day Pyrrha knew Jaune would question why he out of all people was chosen to lead what would become team JNPR. She knew he thought it was just dumb luck or, if he was having a good day, he'd attribute it to the plan he'd come up with the defeat the Deathstalker once it chased them down.

He'd be half right, of course, but Pyrrha had been there. She'd seen it, even then, even if Jaune himself hadn't.

It was always in the little things. The way he took command without even realizing it. The way he was the first to step off after retrieving the relic, beckoning them to follow him even as he ran after Ruby.

She'd once been told by her instructors that a good general should be the first to retreat. She'd attributed that to cowardice at first, but she'd seen the truth in those words that day. A strong man fought to the end, but a wise leader was aware of the impact he had on those around him. To order those that care about you to flee while you stayed behind was unfair. At times necessary, but no less cruel. A wise leader knew that if they wanted their people to get to safety they needed to lead them there themselves. True subordinates followed their commanders lead, but only if they were there to lead them.

Jaune led them. When the Nevermore collapsed the bridge, splitting their group in half and leaving them trapped between a sheer drop and the pincers of the enraged Deathstalker, he brought Nora back to help. Well, Nora brought him, but it _was_ his idea to return.

Slaying the Deathstalker had certainly given him the right to lead, but Pyrrha felt it was the care he showed that solidified it. When the massive scorpion-Grimm had destabilized what remained of their footing, he'd been the only one to warn the others of the risk. Sure, they'd all known, but none of the others had made _sure_ of it. Jaune hadn't moved from the collapsing walkway until he'd been _certain_ they were all moving to safety.

It was odd, paradoxical even, how observant he could be at times.

He'd stood against the massive creature of darkness with little more than a sword, some bits of too-small armor and an Aura not even an hour old, and yet his mind hadn't frozen in fear. He'd adapted, and while his movements had still been clumsy, he'd made up for his inexperience with raw determination.

She wasn't sure how else he could have stopped the swing of a multi-ton monster with just a shield and not even flinched.

She'd been able to tell that he'd had little practice using his weapon, but he still had the courage to fight side-by-side with her, and when he'd gotten knocked on his rear for the trouble he'd used the moment to analyze the situation rather than despair. The idea he'd come up with had been by no means a brilliant scheme. The pieces had been there, Ren had made sure of that. If anything it was his lightning-fast problem solving while getting the stuffing beaten out of him that had impressed her and, she suspected, Ozpin.

Cutting through a damaged limb wasn't a novel idea, nor was hitting a nail with a hammer. Quickly analyzing changing battlefield situations, allied skillsets, weapons, abilities, and mindsets to use your people in the most efficient way possible in just a matter of seconds? That was impressive. It had been a deceptively simple solution, but it was rare to find people capable of critical thinking while quite literally faced with death from both sides.

A diamond in the rough, she'd thought as her partner was declared leader of the newly formed team JNPR much later. The young man she'd expected so little of had more than proven himself to her, and she'd smiled wider than she could remember having done in years. Not even knocking her new leader to the ground with an excited shoulder-punch had been enough to prevent her from beaming for long.

And that's how it had all started. A panicked decision based off a single interaction. A hastily made partnership designed for her convenience. Yet as she stepped off the stage, Nora chattering up a storm with Ren bearing patient witness, Pyrrha couldn't stop her eyes from being drawn to the blonde boy beside her. He laughed at something Nora said, pulling her attention to him as he asked her and the quiet boy she walked with a question that got her voice raising a few octaves in excitement. Pyrrha couldn't help the sad little smile that played out across her features at the way he so quickly ingratiated themselves to their new teammates. She wished she could be just as carelessly open.

That sad smile dissolved into a silent 'o' as he seamlessly pulled her into the conversation, introducing her not as Pyrrha The Champion, but as the 'best darn partner a guy could ask for.'.

She'd blinked and looked away, face inexplicably hot as relieved tears gathered in the corners of her vision. Thankfully, her teammates didn't notice as Nora quickly claimed Ren to be 'The best darn teammate a _girl_ could ask for. Tellingly, Jaune didn't disagree.

It was somehow as simple as that. Neither Nora nor Ren asked her about her victories, her persona. She wasn't even sure that they knew, but they'd surely seen her skill in their fight against the Deathstalker. Still, as Jaune continued to treat her casually, even going so far as to playfully nudge her with his elbow while complaining loudly to the team about her knocking him down in front of so many people, she felt the whispers that had haunted her footsteps diminish. She was just a normal girl to him. One that he respected and admired for sure, but he saw past that to the girl beneath. He treated her like a friend and Ren and Nora, whether they realized it or not, followed his lead.

She'd expected to find herself on a team that walked on eggshells around her, but Jaune never even gave that a chance to happen. As the days went on, he was somehow always there to push her out of her trained formality whenever she slipped back into it. Ready with a joke or awkward quip whenever she fell back into polite stiffness, always prepared to drag her into the conversation when her first instinct was to hang back and observe. He never gave her the opportunity to isolate herself, something she hadn't even realized she'd been doing, and she was all but certain that he wasn't even aware of it.

The awkward dunce (to borrow Weiss' turn of phrase) likely had no idea the good he was doing for her. It was just in his nature to include his friends in the conversation, just as it was evidently in hers to step back from it for fear of making things awkward for someone. To make matters worse, she was convinced that there was nothing she could do to convince him of this. She'd seen it in his soul: He didn't just lack confidence in his abilities, but in himself. She'd never be able to convince him that he was helping her because if talking to his friends came naturally to Jaune Arc, it must be just as easy for Pyrrha Nikos. He'd never believe that he could be better than her at something, and not even because of her titles, because he just looked down on himself _that much_.

Humble, generous, kind, and hard on himself to a fault.

He looked up at her from the book he'd been groaning over where they'd been studying in the library and begged her for a break, which she refused out of hand. He moaned piteously, called her a ruthless task master, but obediently kept reading even as he shot her a goofy smile to let her know he didn't mean it.

Growing, slow and steady as a seedling pushing its way through the fertile earth. She'd told him once that he had potential and he'd scoffed. 'Everybody's got potential.' He'd said, 'I'd rather trade that in for some skill here and now.'

Stubborn, ignorant, clumsy, awkward.

He'd introduced her to Ruby by having her demonstrate her mecha-shift weaponry. The girl had promptly forgotten how nervous she was to talk to The Champion, and eagerly spent an hour comparing notes on the creation of their respective 'babies'. Weiss noted the interaction, and promptly offered to lend an ear should Pyrrha ever need help dealing with 'that dolt'. She never took the heiress up her up on the offer, but they swapped stories about their chaotic teammates every now and then. Even Yang managed to look past her excitement over pitting herself against The Invincible Girl to tease and rib Pyrrha like anyone else. Mostly over her perceived overreliance on a certain blonde boy.

She'd feared at first that Nora's boundless energy would eventually become grating but having Ren (and on occasion Jaune) present kept the girl's spirit contained. Besides, Pyrrha quickly came to love the bubbly bomber's passionate approach to life. Nora found ways to make every day new and exciting, even if she woke them up _far_ too early on occasion. Ren was quiet, but wise and patient beyond his years. He'd said once that it was an adaptation to survive, but Pyrrha could see the gentle affection dancing in his eyes even as Nora objected loudly.

She'd forgotten what it was like to have friends.

She would die before she lost that again.

Mistral may have been where she came from, Beacon may have been where she lived, but Team JNPR was her home.

Ren was the brains and patience that tempered them. Nora was the raw passion and energy that kept them going. Pyrrha herself was the skill and muscle that pushed them through.

And Jaune? Jaune was the heart of their team. Even if he didn't realize it, even if he didn't see it.

She didn't have to look far to see who she owed her new life to. She didn't have to think hard to figure out who glued them all together, who made her a part of their home.

Every friend she'd made, she had because of him. Because he'd treated her like everyone else, because he'd included her, because he'd made her seem approachable and pushed everyone together.

Because he'd seen Pyrrha where everyone else had been blinded by The Champion.

Jaune's head shot up when Ruby zipped into the library to ask if they were interested in a two-team movie night, and the expression he gave her from over his textbook was nothing short of pleading. She tried for a moment to stand firm but when he desperately pointed out that team activities strengthened their bonds, she found her resolve slipping. She didn't allow him to see it of course, not even when Nora agreed with him explosively and coincidently flung her textbook across the room in her eagerness to escape. It was only when Ren gave her a small, conspiratorial smile and a shrug that seemed to say: 'what can you do?' that she finally let the wide grin slip out.

Jaune and Nora loudly cheered the 'end of tyranny', the blond quickly organizing a plan of action which included the snacks and beverages they'd need and where to get them. Yet another thing he never seemed to notice he did for them.

Pyrrha had watched in amusement, happy to be carried along in her team's enthusiasm, only to freeze when Jaune planted one foot on a chair and boldly (dorkily) commanded them onwards.

It had been pure coincidence; His eyes had simply drifted over them all in turn, naturally coming to rest on her. He shrugged, giving her that same goofy grin, soft and kind and earnest.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Oh no.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.


	2. Jaundice Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, not dead!
> 
> Long story short, my job is a lot of responsibility and VERY little free time. Oh well, to be fair I'm sure a lot of people are going through the same thing. I'm still working on my other stories (already have 13+ pages for 'Life's Grays and Spa Days') but it might take a me a little time to be happy with their quality before I post them.
> 
> Looking on the positive side, this experience is slowly helping me get better at writing even when it feels difficult. To be honest, that's why I actually decided to write fanfiction in the first place: To get better at writing more consistently and working through writer's block. I won't lie and say I'm improving by leaps and bounds, but I honestly feel that even a few months back I would have been unable to write at all; Sometimes little steps are worth big celebration.
> 
> I had quite a bit of fun with this chapter (Seriously, if you watch some of season 1 RWBY you'll see some CRAZY stuff. Looking at YOU Nora's walk cycle in Forever Fall!). My goal was to make both Jaune and Pyrrha a little in the wrong with their actions and motivations. We'll see what everyone thinks. I actually ended up splitting this chapter in half because of some feedback I received. Pyrrha goes on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster in this arc, and I agreed that giving the reader more time to digest than a paragraph break would be beneficial. Plus, the original episodes pretty much ended in the same place I did, so unintentional accuracy?
> 
> Hope you all enjoy, it's been a pleasure to read your reviews and hear your thoughts. I think I'm going to try to start responding more to comments, I didn't want to look like I was digging for compliments so I haven't so far, but honestly I want you all to know how much I appreciate hearing from you.
> 
> Thank you for reading, from the bottom of my heart.
> 
> Enjoy.

It wasn't supposed to turn out like this…

Pyrrha had tried so, so hard to keep things from changing; To push this… whatever it was to the back of her mind. It was just a fascination, a passing interest, it wasn't worth risking everything to pursue.

So what if her eyes seemed to follow him of their own volition whenever he walked into the room? So what if she clung to his every smile like a lifeline? Pyrrha Nikos was not in love. She couldn't be, it wouldn't be fair, not when she'd finally gotten everything she'd thought she wanted.

She couldn't lose him, couldn't afford make their relationship awkward. She didn't want to watch the world from a lonely pedestal anymore, not after she'd been given her first taste of freedom; She took her budding feelings and stamped down on them hard. It was fine, a passing fancy, she'd allow them to fade and everything would go back to how it should be.

Except it didn't.

When they'd started combat class, Jaune had quickly become the butt of everyone's jokes. Pyrrha had long suspected that Jaune's combat skills were sub-par, but Miss Goodwitch's class put just how far behind he was on stark display.

She didn't know how to handle it, especially since Jaune never asked for help. Niggling doubts floated to the front of her mind with every missed swing, every clumsy block, every rookie mistake her leader made on the combat floor. She crushed those doubts, ground them underfoot and buried them in the same hole as her feelings.

Pyrrha was sure he was working his hardest to improve himself, and as time went on his strikes became more certain. It never seemed to be to be enough. Back when they'd fought the Deathstalker he'd wielded his sword like a club, overbalancing with clumsy strikes that spoke more of desperation than training. Weeks of practice had seen his sword form improve immeasurably but he was still hopelessly behind, and she was far from the only one who noticed.

It wasn't hard to pick out why Miss Goodwitch insisted on pairing Jaune up with Cardin so often. The armored boy fought with the brute strength of a raging bull and perhaps half the intelligence, making him a good match-up for someone in desperate need of the fundamentals. Cardin's style was as simple as it was brutal, Pyrrha could have picked him apart in seconds, but Jaune struggled to so much as touch the giant; Cardin reveled in it in that way those with too much strength and too little empathy always did, and Pyrrha had been unable to do anything more than watch on with horrified fascination as Jaune endured blow after blow time and time again.

Every time she watched him roll to his feet like nothing had happened, she thanked whatever gods were listening that she'd unlocked his Aura. The first time Cardin had swung his mace up past Jaune's guard and sent him flying she'd felt her heart stop with dread. A blow that solid with that much force behind it would have drained her Aura by half and left her gasping for air, yet Jaune had simply pulled himself to his feet and thrown himself back in for another beating. His Aura hadn't even dropped by fifteen percent.

Of course, it mattered little when Cardin simply shrugged and sent him back to the mat with an overhead slam.

That was the problem though, wasn't it? No one bothered looked any deeper than surface level. Cardin saw what everyone else did when he looked at Jaune: a boy with too much heart and too little strength to back it up. Jaune put everything he had into every blow, throwing himself at his opponents with a tenacity that was worthy of praise. At least, it would have been if it gotten him any results. Even Miss Goodwitch seemed to be losing patience with the boy's lack of significant growth, going so far as to throw in a snide remark or two when he was inevitably tossed around the arena like a ragdoll. Pyrrha hated it.

The worst of it all was that Jaune just bore it all with a silent acceptance she found all too hauntingly familiar. They were mirror images in a way, standing at opposite ends of the class roster and equally isolated from their classmates for it.

Except he'd already ensured she wouldn't be alone when their other classmates inevitably decided she was too far out of reach to approach.

What could she do for him?

Weeks passed and Jaune slowly became more and more distant from their team. She knew she had to act fast, knew that there had to be something she could say, something she could do, to make all of this better. To fix this before someone else came in to make things worse. Except… except she hesitated.

Other's didn't.

Cardin's bullying was never anything major, nothing they could prove to the teachers, but that was perhaps what made it so perfectly damaging for Jaune. The blond had so little confidence as it was, and what little he had was a direct result of her hard work. To see it disappearing before her eyes every day was more painful than she would have expected, yet he still put on a brave face for them and made his excuses.

She didn't understand.

He was hurting, she knew he was hurting. Everyone knew. She couldn't fathom why he'd chose to ignore the blatantly obvious and actually defend his bully. It was almost like he wanted to be punished for his failures, like he thought he deserved it; Like he believed he was less than Cardin in some way.

Clumsy swings and messy footwork flashed through her mind. Little things that, when combined with a telling lack of Aura, told a certain story she was afraid to even think about. She stamped down on those traitorous thoughts hard.

Jaune was just… clumsier than the others. Everyone had their own strengths and weaknesses, there was no shame in that. If anything, she felt that the others didn't give Jaune enough credit. It never ceased to amaze her just how hard he worked to improve himself. If only he'd let her—let them help him. All he needed was a nudge in the right direction.

If only he would ask.

The days dragged on, but Jaune only grew more tired and withdrawn. Oh, he always put on a brave face for them, but Pyrrha could see the exhaustion weighing on him. She wasn't sure what was worse, that he thought his roommates didn't notice him slipping out of bed with his gear and textbooks when he thought they were sleeping, or that they all just played along with it.

The tipping point came when Jaune's nightly disappearances finally came back to haunt him. He was far from the only one to sleep in one of Oobleck's classes, and she still wasn't certain if he'd been called on because the Doctor had noticed or if the hyperactive huntsman had actually thought the startled snort he'd let out when Cardin had flicked a piece of paper at him had been a legitimate sound of interest. Either way, Jaune's attempt at Jauning his way through an answer hadn't seemed to impress the teacher.

At least Cardin ended up in hot water too when his less than subtly racist comments and temper had worn on the doctor's nerves.

Pyrrha had elected to wait outside for Jaune after class, her expression carefully bland and composed as she eavesdropped on the conversation going on inside.

"—I don't know if it's just lack of interest or your own stubborn nature, but whatever it is, it stops now." Oobleck said between sips of his ever-present coffee. Pyrrha snorted angrily. It seemed rather rich to her for the doctor to be acting like an adult now of all times. So, what? He could just sit by and do nothing while his students were bullied and harassed out in the open? When one made openly racist comments in the classroom? Comments the doctor had done nothing to suppress! He hadn't even mentioned them when doling out punishment.

Why were the teachers just sitting by while people were hurting? Didn't they care? Didn't his friends care? Why wasn't anyone doing somethin—

Oh…

Pyrrha looked down at her palms with a grimace. Some partner she was.

When she heard the rapid tapping that signified Oobleck's exit she averted her eyes, still not entirely sure how she felt about the man. Unfortunately, that lapse in attention was all Cardin needed. She turned back just in time to see Jaune slow at the doorway, his focus shifting behind him ever-so-slightly before Cardin gave him an angry shove on his way out.

Pyrrha felt her jaw lock but pushed down her anger in favor of helping her leader to his feet. Too many witnesses, she'd surely be interrupted before she had the chance to let her anger out…

"You know, I really will break his legs." Her mouth said, apparently electing to ignore all of that in favor of seeking immediate gratification. Jaune just sighed.

He wasn't the only one.

It was quiet, so quiet she was all but certain she'd been the only one to hear it. A pair of round spectacles reflected the overhead lights from down the hall and Oobleck's expression was nothing short of disappointed as he watched Cardin amble away. Pyrrha blinked, but then those unreadable glasses were focused on her. One green brow rose slightly, as if to ask what she was waiting for. He tilted his chin ever so slightly in Jaune's direction, then vanished around the corner in a blur of motion.

History is important, gentlemen! If you can't learn from it… you're destined to repeat it.

No one was willing to challenge Jaune on his inability to ask for help, and it wasn't working… She needed to stop hesitating.

"I have an idea!" Pyrrha blurted, grabbing his arm before her conviction could falter and dragging him off.

She'd really been spending too much time with Nora, hadn't she?

/*/

She wasn't entirely certain that the roof of their dorms wasn't off limits for students, but then again, she was fairly sure Ruby's hood went against dress regulations and that certainly hadn't been a problem yet. Either way, she found herself relaxing in the cool evening breeze as she stepped over to admire the view with her leader beside her. It was… beautiful. Beacon at night never ceased to amaze her. The tiny pinpricks of light twinkled back at her, each one marking the existence of another person able to go about their lives in peace thanks to the academy and the warriors it produced. The dull yellow glow of the massive tower of Beacon stood like—well—a beacon of hope against the encroaching darkness. It set her at ease.

Jaune evidently didn't feel the same way.

"Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not that depressed." Her leader said, giving the drop a considering look.

Pyrrha blinked. What?

"I can always be a… farmer, or something."

…!

SHIT

"N-NO!" Pyrrha squawked, shoving Jaune back from the edge. "That's not why I brought you up here!" She took a deep breath, what was wrong with this boy? "Jaune, I know you're having a difficult time in class, and that you're still not the strongest of fighters… so…" She took a sharp breath, steeling her nerves, "I wanna help you!"

"What?" Jaune asked, and there was something there. A warning perhaps? His voice, his inflections, something was off.

But Pyrrha had come too far to back out now. "We can train up here after class, where no one can bother us!" She pushed, some of the frustration she'd been holding in slipping onto her face. What was the problem?! He needed this, everyone could see that he was struggling, did he think they hadn't noticed?! She could solve all his problems if he'd just let her in. She could talk to the Oobleck about that essay, assure him that she'd be helping him with his work from now on. She could tell Cardin to back off or, even better, make him. Why wouldn't he just let her do this for him?!

Jaune looked away from her, his hand raising up to rub the back of his head in that tic she'd grown oh so familiar with, but there was something off about it this time. There was no nervous laughter to accompany it, no painfully obvious bravado, just genuine discomfort. "You think I need help?" He asked. They were simple words.

The resignation behind them told her that they were anything but. The subtext was loud and clear: You don't believe in me?

"N-no! No, that's not what I meant." Pyrrha stammered, reaching out as if to pull the words back. This wasn't going like she'd hoped!

"But you just said it." Jaune said quietly, and dammit why did he only get good at reading her at the worst time?!

"Jaune, everyone needs a push from time to time." She said, her voice growing frustrated. She was getting desperate and she knew it, "It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon, that speaks volumes of what you're capable of!"

Something flashed through her leader's eyes, something desperate and angry, but he turned away before she could identify it. "You're wrong." He sighed, "I don't belong here."

"That's a terrible thing to say, of course you do!" Pyrrha snapped back, even as clumsy swings flashed through her mind.

Which of them was she trying to reassure?

"No, I don't!" Jaune snapped, spinning back to face her, eyes flashing. She saw the frustration, the shame, the disappointment; They flashed through his eyes like steel through the air before his expression went slack. He let out a sigh, his eyes flicking towards her then away while he wrestled with something.

Oh gods, please no.

"I wasn't really accepted into Beacon." Jaune confessed, his voice exhausted; Defeated.

"W-what do you mean?" Pyrrha found herself asking, her mind roiling. Every blow, every half-dodge, everything he didn't seem to know, it was all flashing through her mind faster than she knew how to process. Every doubt, every question she'd refused to ask. It was all coming back to bite her.

"I mean I didn't go to combat school; I didn't pass any tests! I didn't earn my spot at this academy." Jaune exploded, "I lied! I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and I lied."

She… she couldn't…? How was she supposed to handle this? "What? But, why?" Her mouth asked. The rest of her was too busy trying to process the feeling of those comfortable lies she'd told herself collapsing around her.

"'Cause this is what I've always wanted to be!" Jaune said, almost pleading, desperate sapphire eyes burning into her soul before he turned away from her once more, "My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes!" The fire behind his voice seemed to dim, "I wanted to be one too. I was just never good enough."

Never good enough

Had… had those words ever been spoken to her? She couldn't remember, but it was plainly obvious that he'd heard them often; Often enough to believe them. She could see it in his eyes. Behind the bravado, behind the goofy smile and can-do attitude, Jaune genuinely believed that he wasn't good enough; Could she disagree? He didn't have the skills necessary to attend Beacon, he hadn't even had Aura!

How did he keep trying? Even when he knew the chances of him succeeding were slim to none?

She didn't know what to think, but she could fix this. She owed him that much at least. "Then let me help you!" She said, reaching out to lay a hand on his shoulder, let me handle this.

Jaune stiffened at her touch, flinching away, "I don't want help, I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"

Something was off, his eyes were wide and panicked, his face flushed with the emotion he almost seemed to be choking on. "Jaune, I—" She tried.

He cut her off. "I'm tired of being the loveable idiot stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives." Jaune said in a strangled tone, and she flinched at the venom in his voice, "Don't you understand?! If I can't do this on my own… then what good am I?"

Did she understand? The Invincible Girl paused. Had she ever doubted that she was good enough? Her trainers had always been kind, always encouraged her to play to her strengths and diminish her weaknesses.

The Champion reached out for him, only to yank her arm back at the sudden fear in his eyes as he flinched away from her touch. They stared at one another for a beat, and she felt the air in her lungs freeze at the pain and defeat that swam in his eyes. "Just—" He cut himself off, swallowed, then continued: "Leave me alone… Ok?"

He'd tried to sound tough, but she hadn't missed the waver in his tone, and so she did the only thing she could do: "If… that's what you think is best." She whispered, one hand coming forward to hold the other in a white-knuckled grip as she stepped away. She wasn't sure if she could bear it if he saw how badly she was shaking.

It wasn't supposed to turn out like this…


	3. Chapter 3: Jaundice Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Sup everybody? I've recently tried writing using storm sounds for ambience. I usually like having something to listen to, but sometimes I get so distracted trying to find the 'perfect song' that I end up not getting anything done! I still switch back to music every now and then, but it's been pretty helpful to have background sounds that can draw me into my own little world without being too engrossing. Weird thought, I know, but I felt like sharing haha.
> 
> This chapter has a few extra scenes thrown in that didn't happen in the actual show, but I felt justified in adding them because: 1: It was fun, and 2: Pyrrha really does jump around in her emotions quite a bit in the span of few minutes. Seriously, she goes from seething mad in the dorm room to just disappointed in Forever Fall. I wanted to fill in those gaps a little bit and make the story a little more mine. So with that in mind, take everything you see with a grain of salt!
> 
> On that note, I want to take this moment to remind everyone that everyone's favorite spartan isn't necessarily a reliable narrator. She cares a lot about Jaune and the rest of her friends, but her life experiences and preconceptions can get in the way of seeing things clearly. For example: I was actually writing a whole segment that I had to scrap because I realized I was letting my own views on Jaune's character bleed in, views that Pyrrha wouldn't necessarily think were accurate. I personally like the idea that Jaune is very selfish in a selfless way, an idea I shamelessly stole from Coeur. I like to think that Jaune is often so selfless because he's genuinely more scared of losing or disappointing someone than he is of dying (Don't know if you can tell, but precious baby-boi Jaune's conversation with Raven in Coeur's 'Relic of The Future' about why cowardice is strength is legit one of my favorite moments in media). When everything goes sideways, I think you could count on Jaune out of everyone to keep going because he's a coward. He's more scared of standing by and doing nothing while people he loves dies than he is of dying himself; You can't break what's already broken. I'm not sure Pyrrha would agree with me, however, so I ended up reworking that segment to be a little more accurate to how I think Pyrrha would view him.
> 
> Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to dump on Jaune or anything. I very much think that he's intrinsically kind and brave, I just think that his courage comes from a different place then most traditional heroes; If anything, I think it makes him a better one. Many heroes would be crushed if they failed, unable to stand back up again and keep fighting when their worst nightmares come to pass. Jaune wasn't. He was broken sure, he was hurt, but he kept going. Jaune's a hero in my eyes, but even more importantly he's one I feel like I could count on because his motivations are intrinsically human.
> 
> Anyway, sorry for the long soliloquy! I ended up splitting this chapter again (It's no longer synched with the actual episodes, REEEEEEE), so you'll have one more chapter before we get out of Jaundice. I've got about four pages of it as of right now, and hope to have it out by next Sunday.
> 
> I think I'm going to start updating on Sunday afternoons so swing by if ya see me, yeah?
> 
> Next week will hopefully be Jaundice part 3, then Life's Grays Part 2, and finally Wizard Things Chapter 2.
> 
> As always, thank you so much for giving my story a read, you all have no idea what the time you've given me means to me; I may or may not still squeal like a child whenever I get a review, I ADMIT NOTHING!
> 
> Stay healthy and happy.
> 
> -Amaratsu

It wasn't supposed to turn out like this…

She regretted it. She regretted it more than she could put into words, but she couldn't bring herself to talk to him. He tried a few times as the days slipped by, but she just… she couldn't. Not yet. Not until she sorted through whatever was going on in her mind; In her heart.

What were you supposed to feel when the person you cared for the most turned out to be a fraud?

It was… confusing, something she'd come to associate with Jaune. Intellectually she knew any lying had been more on her part than his—it wasn't as if he'd ever really pretended to have been a capable warrior—but she couldn't shake the sense of betrayal. He hadn't lied to her per-se, and it wasn't like he'd kept his secret from her for long, but it still hurt.

Pyrrha was angry. Angry with him, angry with the world, angry with herself; That was the crux of the issue, after all, she'd made him her problem and she knew it. She also knew she'd forgive him for the transcripts, she'd seen how hard he was willing to work to make his dream a reality. He'd said this was what he'd always wanted… how far would he have gone if he'd just been given the help he needed? Pyrrha was selfish, she was coming to accept that, she didn't want to lose him just because he'd lied.

It didn't make it hurt any less.

She was avoiding him; She wasn't proud of it, but she was. Pyrrha wasn't sure how she was supposed to face him when everything inside her such a tangled mess. He had a habit of making her feel things she'd never felt before; She couldn't even deny it anymore. Just like the lies she'd told herself to avoid thinking about Jaune's lack of skill, the ones she told to hide her feelings had crumbled down around her.

He'd tried to talk to her once or twice, his face haggard and tired, but she… she hadn't been ready.

She regretted that.

She'd thought at first that he was just giving her space. It was only when Ren and Nora started asking subtle questions that she realized he'd started to avoid them too. She told herself it was nothing, but when Ruby pulled her aside to ask why Jaune was avoiding meals, she truly began to fear.

Then she saw Jaune with him.

He was trying to play it cool, trying to pretend that everything wasn't terrible.

He'd always been a terrible actor.

She could read his resignation in the droop of his shoulders, his despair in the watery smile that wobbled across his lips. Cardin slapped him on the back with a hearty laugh as he sent the smaller boy staggering forward, gesturing towards his seated friends with a look that was as expectant as it was threatening. She saw Jaune's fists clench, hands shaking, but he simply nodded miserably and walked towards the lunch line with slumped shoulders. She felt like she was going to be ill.

He knew. She didn't know how Cardin knew, but he did. Jaune had never ingratiated himself to the boy before, he'd just taken the abuse with an air of resigned expectation. There was only one reason why he'd be doing the bully's bidding now.

Pyrrha saw red.

She vaguely heard the concerned words of her friends and teammates before her hands slammed down on the table and she rose to her feet. She was certain they said something about that, but their voices faded into indistinct chatter as she marched across the cafeteria towards her target. Said target gave her a grin that was far too satisfied as she stopped in front of him, "Why, if it isn't Beacon's favorite little Miss Perfect. How can me and my team help ya?"

Pyrrha wasn't in the mood for games, "What did you say to him Cardin?" She asked, her voice deceptively calm.

Cardin gave his team a look of exaggerated confusion, "I'm not sure what you're referring to?" He said in a saccharine voice practically dripping with disdain.

Pyrrha ground her teeth, her hands balling into fists. Outwardly, she fought to keep her expression calm, but something must have leaked through because Cardin's cronies were looking more and more nervous by the second. "You know what I mean." She said shortly, her voice dangerously low.

"Do I, now?" Cardin growled, starting to push his way out of his seat before pausing. Pyrrha felt a satisfied smirk play its way across her face as the bully glanced around them, making a few of the onlookers look away. They had attracted the attention of a good portion of the lunch room, most of which seemed to be waiting with baited breath for the armored boy to finally get what was coming to him, and she could tell that he knew it too. It wasn't a good situation for him. They were both perfectly aware of exactly how any physical altercation between them would pan out, meaning he couldn't go with his normal approach of throwing his weight around. She had him.

Jaune threw an arm over her shoulder, "Hey Pyrrha!" He said loudly, his voice turbocharged with false cheer.

No. He wouldn't, he couldn't actually—

"Sorry Cardin, buddy, pal," Jaune said, keeping that forced cheer going even as his smile turned into more of a grimace, "I forgot to tell my partner about how we've been getting to know each other. I hope you understand that this is entirely my fault."

Pyrrha twitched—shooting him a disbelieving look as she opened her mouth to rebuke him—only to go silent when his fingers dug into her shoulder desperately. "Please." He whispered; She could feel his hand shaking.

Cardin looked around the lunchroom again and this time everyone went back to their lunches, the show evidently cancelled. "You know what? Sure thing Jauney-boy." He said, his voice neutral even as his eyes burned with barely repressed anger, "Why don't you tell me all about it later, we can keep… 'getting to know each other', as you put it." Without another word, the bully pushed himself up from his seat and skulked away, his cronies scrambling to follow.

Jaune let out a quiet breath only to freeze when Pyrrha knocked his hand off her shoulder and stepped back to stare at him, her expression betrayed. He couldn't meet her eyes, but she wasn't having it. "Follow." She said shortly, turning on her heel and marching away. For a moment she worried that he wouldn't listen, but the she heard him shuffle after her with an exhausted sigh.

They didn't walk far, just far enough to find a hallway that was empty. Pyrrha stared out the window, not willing to look him in the eyes as his steps finally stopped several feet away. She wouldn't lie: the distance hurt. "Why?" She asked quietly, carefully keeping her expression neutral, it was all that needed to be said.

"He knows about my transcripts, I—"

"No," Pyrrha interrupted, "Why did you stop me?"

She watched from the corner of her eye as Jaune looked away, "Pyrrha… I—I don't think you understand…"

"Then explain." Pyrrha said shortly.

Jaune was trying to catch her eye, she knew he was, but she wasn't ready to see him yet. He let out a frustrated breath, "Look, Pyrrha," He started hesitantly, "This isn't exactly my first time being bullied. I told you I had seven sisters, right? It's kinda inevitable that some idiot's gonna get turned down get pissy about it."

He hadn't told her about his sisters, but she didn't really see how that was relevant. She said as much.

"It's relevant," Jaune said slowly, clearly trying to keep a lid on his frustration, "Because my sisters always tried to step in too, and you know what? It always got worse." He blew out a breath, and she watched from the corner of her eye as he paced irritably, roughly rubbing a hand through his hair. "Look, I appreciate it, really I do, but what do you think antagonizing them is going to do? Now Cardin's just angry at almost getting humiliated and I'm the one who's going to pay for it."

Pyrrha opened her mouth, a hot retort on her tongue, but he beat her to it. "You can't always be there to step in." He snapped, "I have seven sisters, Pyrrha, and not even they could manage it."

"So you expect me to sit back and do nothing?" She tried so very hard to keep her voice level, but even she could hear the incredulity in it.

"Can't you just trust me?!" Jaune was practically pleading now, "Pyrrha, I've lived with this before, I can do this."

Was that supposed to convince her? Pyrrha didn't say anything, but she knew he'd read it on her face anyway when his expression dropped.

"Fine." He said. There was something in his tone that hurt just to listen to, some dark mix of crushing disappointment and anger, "Just—just stay out of it." He swallowed, something like fear flitting across his expression before his features hardened in determination, "That's an order from your team leader."

Pyrrha's jaw dropped, "Jaune, you can't—"

"I know what I'm doing." He interrupted, but he didn't meet her eyes, "I can do this."

There was real anger in her voice now, she knew there was, and she meant to hold it in but she just— "You can't just ask me to do nothing!"

"I can handle this. I—I know I'm not—" He seemed to choke on the words for a moment, "Enough." He finished lamely. "Trust me, I know; But my family has always been more than that, been heroes, and I know that if I just had a chance—" He cut himself off again and shook his head angrily, "I know what I'm doing. they—you keep saying you want to help, and I know you do, but you guys—you won't always be around to protect me! I know you don't think I'm good enough, or smart enough, or skilled enough, but I never will be if everyone keeps saying I'm not ready and refusing to give me a chance!"

Once again, Pyrrha had the strong suspicion (pretty much confirmation at this point really) that Jaune wasn't directing all of this at her. It was the only reason she managed to bite back the angry words at the tip of her tongue and modulate her tone into something more reasonable. "Fine." She said, her voice tight, "If you feel so strongly about it then I won't intervene, but you should still just talk to us. We're your team, we'd understand."

"You guys already have enough on your plates, I'm dragging you all down enough as it is."

Something hot and angry flashed through her gut, but she bit the inside of her cheek hard to stop it from erupting past her lips. Jaune must have seen it in her eyes though, because he couldn't meet her gaze. "I know what I'm doing." He repeated again, his voice quiet and hollow, "You guys'll be fine, you're incredible, you don't need to get weighed down by my problems.

Pyrrha's mind flashed back to the growing silences that pervaded their room, to the way Ren and Nora seemed to retreat further and further into their own little bubble of two as Jaune's absences grew more common. Your team needs you she almost screamed. But she didn't, damn her weakness. It was too close to what she really wanted to say (I need you) and she wasn't ready for that. Not—Not yet. Not now.

"Fine." She said instead, the word slipping through her lips like vitriol, "Do what you want."

"Pyrrha, I…" There was regret in his voice, pain. It wouldn't be enough; she could tell that his mind had long since been made up.

"It's fine." She said, her voice shaking slightly, "You'll be fine after all, right?"

She fled; She wasn't proud of it. He reached out after her, she felt the metal on him grow near, but he stopped before he could make contact. Damn his weakness.

Damn her too for her own.

/*/

Pyrrha used to love Beacon at night. Looking over the school, seeing the soft glow of lights and life. It helped center her after a long day, helped her remember that there was more to the path she'd chosen than the rush of blood that came with challenging her limits.

Now though, it just felt like just another reminder of her isolation, of being trapped outside as life and love happened just on the other side of a thin plane of glass.

The silence in their dorm room was penetrating, broken only by the creak of bedsprings as Nora bounced away. Very early on in the year Ren had tried to quietly discourage Nora from her habit, not wanting to break a piece of Beacon furniture. He'd eventually surrendered when Jaune pointed out that the beds were made for growing Huntsmen and Huntresses, and could likely take the abuse. At the time, Pyrrha had been little more than quietly amused. Now she was thankful for her team leader's intervention, at least it filled the silence.

"How come Juane gets home so late?" Nora finally queried between bounces, her bed creaking and groaning dangerously under the abuse.

"He's become rather scarce ever since he's been fraternizing with Cardin." Ren said, calmly fitting his weapon back together and checking the sights. Pyrrha tried to ignore the way his eyes flicked to her on that last word, gauging her reaction.

If her silence dissuaded her partners, they didn't show it, keeping up the conversation so naturally that anyone who didn't know them would assume it was exactly that.

"That's weird, doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow?" Nora said, a quiet sadness lurking at the edge of her voice as she twisted impressively through the air with one last huge bounce, "We need our… REST!"

Pyrrha tracked her descent out of the corner of her eye, more an instinct than anything else, just making sure the excitable girl didn't hurt herself; That was why she was the only one in the room to see the sliver of blond peeking through their doorway.

She turned away, eyes narrowing furiously. "I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing." She said, the pain and anger she felt dripping from her every syllable.

She saw the concerned look Ren and Nora shot each other, heard Nora's hesitant agreement, but couldn't find it in herself to worry. The door closed with a soft click, and she knew the recipient of her message had gotten it loud and clear.

The silence that had hung heavy over their dorm room returned, like a shroud that separated her from what remained of the team. It wasn't hard for her to see how this would go. Ren and Nora were undeniably wonderful, but she could see the writing on the wall. When Jaune had grown distant the pair had retreated into the safety of one another, there wasn't room in their duo for her.

"You can talk to us…" Nora said quietly, so quietly Pyrrha had to do a double take to be certain those soft words had truly come from the bubbly bomber.

"I—What?"

"We're concerned as well, but not just about Jaune." Ren said with a sigh, giving Nora a look she returned with a defiant glint in her eye, "I'd been hoping not to pry excessively, but we do want you to know that you can rely upon us."

"I…"

"You're angry with him." Nora observed sadly, "It's messing you guys up."

"He—!"

"He did something, something to do with Cardin. You don't have to tell us the details if you don't want to." Ren said calmly, his penetrating pink eyes flicking between her and Nora before returning to his weapon, "We just wanted you to know that the rest of JNPR is here if you need support."

Pyrrha blinked, the anger she'd been feeling cutting off like water from a spout. "I'm sorry?"

Ren shifted, a slight motion that belied his nerves, something Nora picked up on immediately. "We never had a lot of friends growing up." She said with a shrug, "Renny's just trying to let you know in his own awkward way that we're not great at this, but we are here for you two."

Something in Pyrrha's gut twisted, and she looked away before her teammates could see the confliction brewing behind her emerald eyes.

Jaune's transcripts, the reason Cardin enslaved their leader to his every whim… They weren't her story to tell. She was angry, furious even, but she still couldn't bring herself to betray her leader like that. He'd told her the truth, despite knowing exactly what it meant, despite knowing the strain it would put on their relationship. That courage meant something to her; That trust meant more.

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha said, the words tasting bitter in her mouth even as she said them, "I'm thankful, truly I am, but I believe this is something I must work through on my own."

She braced herself, waiting for the disappointment and hurt to flash through her teammate's eyes, waiting for the silence to descend once more.

"That's fair." Ren accepted without batting an eye, "Just remember that we're here to support you with anything you need."

"Even if it's just a smile or a laugh." Nora added, manifesting in Pyrrha's personal space before the champion could react and catching her in a rib-creaking hug.

Pyrrha spluttered for a moment, not an uncommon reaction to Nora's sudden bursts of physical affection, only catching her breath a few moments after she was finally released. "Just like that?" She wheezed disbelievingly.

"Yup." Nora said proudly, popping the 'P'.

"Sometimes you need to do things yourself." Ren agreed with a sage nod, "We never grow if someone fights all our battles for us."

You won't always be around to protect me!

Pyrrha felt her throat lock up, her veins turning to ice at Ren's warm words.

I was just never good enough.

She'd never been told she wasn't good enough, she'd been unstoppable, but it wasn't like she'd gotten there on her own!

If I can't do this on my own… then what good am I?

Ridiculous, she'd had a plethora of coaches and trainers behind her.

'Not in the ring, you didn't.' A treasonous voice whispered somewhere in her mind, 'They trained you, encouraged you, but it was you who ultimately claimed victory; They just gave you the tools you needed, and the chance to seize it.'

I never will be if everyone keeps saying I'm not ready and refusing to give me a chance.

"What if it doesn't work out…?" Pyrrha whispered, "What if we fail?"

Ren gave her a long look, but it was Nora who spoke up, "Then we'll be here to help pick up the pieces." The energetic girl said with uncharacteristic solemnness. The raven-haired boy beside her nodded, rock solid and sure.

Pyrrha's throat felt like it was closing up, "Jaune can't stand up to Cardin." she found herself confessing haltingly, voice thick, "When I tried to interfere he told me to leave it to him." She couldn't bring herself to look at Ren's eyes, to see whether her half-truth had been seen through.

Ren let out a long breath, "I can… see why you would want to get involved." he admitted, pink eyes narrowing dangerously while Nora growled menacingly in the background.

"I don't understand why he won't let me help." Pyrrha admitted softly.

Ren was silent for a time, and when Pyrrha looked over at him he was giving Nora a thoughtful look. He only spoke when his partner gave him a hesitant nod. "When we were younger," The stoic boy started with uncharacteristic hesitance, "Nora and I really only had each other to rely on. I won't bore you with the details, but we weren't the people we are today."

He paused, and the look he gave his partner was conflicted. Nora just rolled her eyes and picked up the story where he'd left off. "Don't mind Renny, he means to say that I wasn't the bundle of laughs I am today."

"Nora! That's not true, I can hardly claim to—!"

Nora waved her partner off with a giggle, but her eyes lacked their usual electric spark when she turned back to continue. "Long story short: I was a quiet little Nora. I let Renny make all the decisions, didn't speak much, I was afraid of people if you can believe it."

Pyrrha's lips felt dry, she wasn't really sure how to respond, "Nora… I—"

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about!" Nora giggled, "I'm hardly the same scared little girl I was back then. In fact, I'm pretty sure I could out-bench just about anybody in this school, maybe you all should be afraid of me!"

Despite herself, Pyrrha found herself giggling softly at that last remark. Something Nora seemed to savor with a gentle smile. Still though… "What changed?" Pyrrha had to ask.

"She did." Ren answered, "All on her own."

Nora rolled her eyes affectionately, "Renny exaggerates." She said throwing a pillow at her partner (and coincidently knocking him off his bed with a startled 'oomph!' amongst a burst of feathers), "He likes to pretend he had nothing to do with it."

"That's because I had very little to do with it." Ren argued, climbing back onto his bed and pulling feathers out of his hair like it was a regular occurrence (to be fair, it was). He turned to Pyrrha, "All I really did was ask her opinion more, try and offer her a chance to speak up when the adults asked us questions. I gave her a chance to change, and she took care of the rest on her own."

Pyrrha stared, "How did you know that would work?"

Ren just shrugged, "I didn't." He said simply. "I wanted Nora to be happy, and I didn't like how everyone just turned to me when they should have been asking her what she wanted. So I tried to give her a chance to have her voice heard." Those pink eyes bored into Pyrrha's soul for just a moment before he looked away, "I was worried that one day we might get separated; If something like that should have come to pass, I wanted to be sure Nora would be okay without me."

Jaune had… said something a lot like that, hadn't he…

Pyrrha looked away, her hands fisted in her lap. "She didn't ever have to worry about that." She said quietly, almost rebelliously.

"We didn't." Ren acknowledged with a nod, "But I don't regret it. I much prefer having a happy Nora with confidence in herself than a quiet one."

Pyrrha transferred her gaze to the floor, shame pooling in her gut, "And what if… What if she couldn't do it?" She finally asked, "What if she never got any better?"

She saw the soft look Ren gave his partner out of the corner of her eye, "Then I would have kept supporting her, and waited until she did." He said simply.

Pyrrha was silent for a time. Finally, perhaps inevitably, it was Nora who broke the quiet. "Thing is," She said quietly, "Changing is hard. It takes time; It takes practice. I mean, there was always a chance I wouldn't get better, but if Ren had never given me the chance… I'm not sure I'd be who I am today." She shrugged, giving Pyrrha a crooked smile, "If I'd just let Ren handle everything, If I'd been too afraid to fail… Wouldn't that have been the same as if I'd chosen to do nothing at all?"

Would it?

Pyrrha bit her lip, Jaune's words flashing through her mind on repeat until she felt nauseous. "But he's not making that choice…" She said slowly, hesitantly, "He is too afraid to fail…"

"True." Ren said plainly, but Pyrrha could hear the deep sadness lurking around the edges of his voice, "But that is his decision to make. If he is to change, it must be his choice; If he doesn't want our help and we handle it anyway, he will be ill-prepared for the struggles he'll face down the line."

"We can prepare him in the meantime, make him ready!" Pyrrha argued, an edge of desperation coloring her tone.

Ren just smiled sadly, "No amount of training can prepare you for a battle you're not allowed to face." He said gently, "And Jaune may not thank us for interfering."

Pyrrha looked away, fighting to keep the swirling mix of emotions raging in her breast off her face, "How then, should we proceed?" She asked tightly.

"We wait." Nora piped up, "Boring, I know, but we still 'gotta! We haven't lost Jaune-Jaune yet, ya know!"

Pyrrha turned to fix Nora with shocked eyes, but it was Ren who spoke next and answered the question on the tip of her tongue: "We know Cardin's type. So far he's not asked Jaune for anything outside his comfort zone, but sooner or later he will."

"Jaune-Jaune will have to chose then!" Nora cheered, as if she already knew his answer, as if it was that easy. How could she know he'd make the right choice?

Ren must have read the look on her face, an impressive task; Not even she knew what emotion was displayed there. "This school is a place to train Remnant's best defense against the Grimm. It's not like a civilian school." He said calmly, his tone brooking no argument, "If Jaune can't stand up to a bully like Cardin, he won't be able to stand between the innocent and those who'd seek to harm them."

His words made sense, his argument solid and well thought out.

I can always be a… farmer, or something.

He was still horribly, pathetically, disgustingly wrong.

Pyrrha's vision flashed red, and—and. There were no words. She saw the look of determination on her partner's face as he caught the Deathstalker's claw on his shield, swallowing his own fear to do what needed to be done. She saw the concern in his eyes as he called for his newfound friends to move off a crumbling bridge, the relief when they'd made it to safety. She saw him laugh off a stupid mistake, endlessly forgiving and yet so hard on himself for every little failure. She saw the man she'd seen he'd grow into.

More than anything, Jaune Arc wanted to be a hero.

He didn't know it, but he already was one. At least to her.

Pyrrha found her tongue. "You," She said, her voice cutting across the room like the rasp of naked steel, "Are mistaken."

Ren smiled. "There's your answer." He said calmly.

…

Pyrrha felt for a moment as if she'd been dropped into her own feet from a great distance; The room seemed to sway for a moment as the raw, pulsing rage that had overlaid her vision sputtered and died. "I—Buh—?"

Nora giggled, bouncing over take Pyrrha's hands and guide her back to her own bed. "We know what kind of person Jaune-Jaune is." She chirped before her grin became positively bloodthirsty, "Sooner or later Cardin'll push too far, and our fearless leader'll finally let me smash that big bully's legs into sausages…"

Despite her vast training and experience, Pyrrha found herself leaning ever so slightly away from the manic grin spreading across her teammate's face.

Ren sighed, but notably didn't do much else to dissuade his partner from doing irreparable harm to another student. "What Nora's trying to say is that Jaune will only go along with Cardin so long as he thinks only he's the only one who'll get hurt by it. Cardin doesn't realize that, and that'll be his undoing."

Pyrrha wanted to argue, wanted to ask how he could be sure… but…

I forgot to tell my partner about how we've been getting to know each other. I hope you understand that this is entirely my fault.

Ren was right; Painfully so. Jaune was just so—so frustratingly unconcerned about his own wellbeing. She'd suspected when Cardin's bullying had started that Jaune thought he deserved it, that he'd somehow believed himself less than the pitiful bully. Even now, understanding how he might have come to that conclusion, her anger at his idiocy hadn't changed. Jaune had faked his way into Beacon, that couldn't be denied. His efforts to improve though? His drive to push forward and better himself? The remarkable progress he had made, even if he didn't see it? That had to be worth something.

Jaune had come to Beacon without the formal training or education to make it, but he'd persevered none the less. Pyrrha didn't know the circumstances, but she knew in her heart of hearts that motivation had never been the problem. For whatever reason her leader had been denied his dream, but instead of accepting that fate he'd railed against it until he found a way to overturn it. Jaune may have been a fraud, he may have gotten in with falsified papers, but it was clear to Pyrrha that few others deserved this chance so much as he. Jaune may not have been the greatest fighter and he was far from the top of their class, but he was the hardest working student at Beacon.

Nothing would stop Jaune from attaining his dream; Cardin didn't know who he was dealing with, and if the bully tried to get her leader to hurt someone for fear of retribution—Her mind flashed back to a plain white shield holding back the strike of a multi-ton monster—she had the feeling that Cardin would find himself unpleasantly surprised by his victim's stubborn nature.

Looking up, The Champion saw the same understanding reflected back to her in the eyes of her teammates. She wet her lips. "You really believe that?" She said, her voice a hushed whisper.

Nora nodded enthusiastically and Ren just shrugged, a crooked smile crossing his lips. "I do. It may not be what you were hoping to hear, but it's all I have to offer."

Pyrrha frowned, but found herself nodding reluctantly. Her teammates were right, their words weren't what she'd wanted to hear, but she suspected that they were exactly what she'd needed. Before her heart had been confused; In pain. It still hurt even now, but somehow she no longer felt herself drowning under the wild swells of emotion that had threatened to overwhelm her.

Pyrrha's eyes drifted towards the last bed in their room, so terrible in its emptiness, and that sense of security faded slightly. Jaune still hadn't returned, and even if he did, she felt like the distance between them hadn't shrunk by a millimeter. Once again that screaming anxiety rose up and she shivered, turning to look at her team. Ren was checking over his gear one last time, while Nora pestered him about sneaking her snacks since 'The professors were on to her and would totally check her gear this time!'. On the surface, both seemed calm and unworried, but then she'd catch the occasional glances both would send towards the door. Team JNPR no longer felt like it was fragmenting, but as Pyrrha felt that silence close in once more she realized that they were hardly healed. They were friends, she knew that for sure now, but without Jaune there was a hole she wasn't sure they could ever fill.

Team JNPR needed its leader back.

She needed him back.

Still, as the night dragged on The Champion realized there was little she could do. Cardin made for a tempting target, but Ren was right: This wasn't an enemy she could pummel into submission.

The silence made its home in her heart as she waited for the hammer to fall.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this…" She whispered.


	4. Chapter 4: Jaundice part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Looks at the clock, notices it's still Sunday* Nailed it.  
> The chapter may not be coming out as early as I'd hoped, but I don't think I did half bad all things considered!
> 
> Hey there everyone, hope your week's been a good one! I honestly thought I'd have to push this chapter back a day or two, but I managed to sneak out a couple of pages near the end of the day and made it work. We're taking a dive back into mostly-cannon territory, which has been a fun game for my brothers to play: Which is cannon, and which did I sneakily add? Funny story, we were concerned about a line not sounding 'in character enough' only for us to figure out it was a line I'd taken word for word from the show. This chapter serves as the conclusion of the Jaundice arc, and as the push our favorite red-head (sorry Ruby) needs to finally acknowledge what pretty much everyone else knew from the start. I've actually enjoyed filling in little details here and there to try and better characterize the growths of these characters, and I hope you've enjoyed them! I don't want to stray too far from cannon however, as that would kinda defeat the point of this story.
> 
> Anyway, It'll be a week or two before I update this story again. I'm planning on taking the time to update a few of my other stories, but then I'll be back! Hope you're looking forward to the beginning of Pyrrha's struggle to get her waifu to notice her!  
> Just an FYI, while Cardin basically disappears after Jaundice (I think), this won't be the last time you see him in this story. It won't be anything that breaks cannon, but I always thought it was a bit of a waste that we never get to see how Jaune's actions affected him (I mean come on, you can tell they had an impact on him) after the fact. It won't be anything that breaks, or even necessarily impacts cannon, but I plan on him making a reappearance. Hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am!
> 
> As another blonde-haired swordsman once said: Alright, everyone, Let's mosey.  
> Take care.  
> ~Amaratsu

It wasn't supposed to be like this… Pyrrha thought as she walked at the head of her team of three.

"Yes students, the Forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but, we are not here to sightsee." Professor Goodwitch said sternly, her high heels somehow managing to clack imposingly on the leaf litter dusting the soft earth. "Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."

Pyrrha tried to listen to their chaperone's instructions, she really did, but her attention kept drifting back towards the rattle of jars. Jaune had been repurposed as a pack mule for team CRDL, and the lanky leader of team JNPR was obviously struggling to balance the heavy box and numerous bottles he was weighed down by.

Pyrrha sighed as Professor Goodwitch wrapped up her speech, emerald eyes finally coming to rest on her leader as the teams split apart to go about their task. As if he'd sensed her gaze, he looked up and for just a moment their eyes met. She saw it all in that split second: the longing, the regret, but his stubbornness won out and he dropped his gaze in shame.

If I'd been too afraid to fail… Wouldn't that have been the same as if I'd chosen to do nothing at all?

The Champion took a deep breath—disappointment and fear warring within her breast as she let her eyes slide closed—and made a difficult decision.

Pyrrha opened her eyes and turned her back on her leader.

She wasn't sure he was ready, but she gave him the chance he asked for anyway.

Time seemed to both crawl by and disappear at a startling pace, she attributed that to the appearance of JNPR's sister team. The girls of team RWBY were a welcome presence, one that kept Pyrrha's mind from dwelling solely on the hole in team JNPR.

RWBY, for their part, didn't comment on their sister team's missing member. She wasn't sure what the other girls knew about Jaune's bullying, but she was grateful for their discretion.

It took the teams longer than it should have to collect their sap, but once Nora was officially banned from holding her own by her partner things proceeded much faster. Still, as time passed Pyrrha felt her focus slipping. She wondered where he was, how he was doing. She hoped he was okay.

Forever Fall was indeed beautiful, what would it have been like to spend time there with their team in one piece? Would Jaune have helped Ren keep his partner from slurping down their entire collection of sap? Would he have laughed off the hyper girl's antics and indulged her? Knowing her leader, Pyrrha couldn't help but think he would have found something in between. It was something she admired about him: How he managed to find solutions were she was convinced none exist.

Looking around at the faces of team RWBY, Pyrrha couldn't help but feel a little ungrateful. Here they were, coming to spend time with them, but she couldn't help but wish it had been someone else that had sought them out. It wasn't Yang's laugh she longed to hear nor Ruby's voice, they just didn't sound right in her ears at that moment.

She missed him.

She missed the adorable way he scratched the back of his neck when he was unsure of what to say; She missed his honest blue eyes that had looked at her and seen Pyrrha were everyone else had seen The Champion; She missed his earnest smile, his unquestioning loyalty, his nervous laugh—

Pyrrha's head snapped up and around as a sound, so achingly familiar, whispered against her ears from somewhere far away. Her eyes searched the area anxiously before she grudgingly concluded she must have been hearing things. Disappointment hammered into her heart like a bullet, and her shoulders dropped miserably.

"Pyrrha…" Ruby said slowly, making The Champion's head snap around in surprise, "Are you okay?"

Pyrrha tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice, off of her face, but even she knew she hadn't succeeded. "Yeah." She tried anyway, her dull emerald eyes sliding away as she found herself clutching her jar of sap to her chest.

Her jar of sap that was abruptly and suspiciously light.

"Nora!" The Champion squawked, her despondence momentarily forgotten.

/*/

Pyrrha grumbled to herself while she tightened the lid on her jar, careful to keep any of the sticky sap away from her outfit. The day… hadn't really been going according to plan, to say the least. Carefully wiping her hands on the grass, the champion made to stand up just in time for a flicker of light to reach her through the trees.

Pyrrha blinked, frowning for a moment before a slight breeze breathed through the trees and made the shadows around her spin and dance. She shook her head, writing the odd flicker off as just another trick of the wind and turned back to her task. Still though, as she held her jar up to the light and checked it for impurities, she couldn't help the sense of unease that flared up within her.

Something was wrong.

A guttural roar echoed through the trees, confirming her suspicion. Pyrrha whirled about, ears straining to determine the source of the noise. Ruby said something, but Pyrrha wasn't listening, 'Please, Brother gods, don't let that be…'

She could confess to a fair bit of distraction, perhaps that's how team CRDL—sans its leader—nearly ran right into her in their hurry to escape something. At first she thought Nora was coming for her again, and she yanked her jar protectively to her chest as they sped past her. "Ursa! Ursa!" One of Cardin's cronies shrieked, speeding past them.

Where?!

Pyrrha opened her mouth to shout out a desperate question, but Yang took a far more proactive approach. "What?! Where?" The blonde huntress-in-training snarled, letting the young man bounce off her and snatching him out of the air as he rebounded.

"Back there!" The boy pointed desperately, even now continuing to struggle in a vain attempt to put distance between himself and the beast of Grimm, "It's got Cardin!"

Pyrrha's heart stopped as her entire world shattered. It felt oddly fitting when her jar slipped through numb fingers, smashing at her feet in a shower of glass; It matched her heart. "Jaune!"

Ruby was quick to act, "Yang! You and Blake go get professor Goodwitch!" the younger girl ordered.

Pyrrha drew her weapons in an explosion of anxious energy, "You two go with them," She snapped out, her eyes meeting those of her teammates, "There could be more."

Pyrrha didn't wait for a response before she spun around and threw herself into the undergrowth, her heart pounding in her ears as the trees flashed by in a red blur. What was wrong with her? This was hardly her first taste of combat, why was she losing control of her breathing?

Broken glass caught her eye, giving her a moments pause before she left it in her wake: The shattered remains of a jar of sap, the sweet substance clinging to the glass but notably absent on the forest floor. The sap was a powerful attractant for certain creatures of Grimm, Ursa and Rapier Wasps being chief among those that couldn't resist the sweet scent. Pyrrha felt a blade of ice embed itself in her heart. He wouldn't have… He couldn't have…. Not to Jaune…

"No no no no no…" She found herself muttering under her breath like a mantra; Like a prayer.

Jaune had only lasted thirty seconds against Cardin; It had been significantly more than that since they'd first heard the creature's roar.

The sound of a large animal snuffling drew Pyrrha up short, Ruby and Weiss stopping slightly behind her a moment later as the three of them assessed the situation. "Oh no…" Someone breathed. Distantly, Pyrrha realized it was her.

Cardin was down, crawling on his hands and knees away from a truly massive Ursa.

There was no sign of Jaune.

There was a buzzing in her bones, behind her eyes, in her lungs. In her heart. Miló hung limply by her side as the Ursa raised one massive paw to finish what it'd started.

A blur of yellow and white threw itself between Cardin and the massive Grimm, the symbol of the Arcs flashing proudly on the heater shield that stood between the Ursa and its victim. The crash of the massive paw slamming into the shield echoed across the clearing but to Pyrrha's shock her leader caught the blow without flinching, his face twisting under the strain as he fought to hold back the Ursa's weight with one arm.

He was alive… Pyrrha inhaled sharply, and the world slid back into focus once more.

Jaune must have made his approach from the other side of the Ursa, likely not even realizing backup had arrived when he made his move. He didn't know it yet, but his desperate gamble was about to pay off. The Ursa was overcommitting, pushing against Jaune's shield with all of its weight and leaving itself exposed. It would have been an excellent strategy if Jaune had been aware of their presence, but as it was Pyrrha suspected it to be one final desperate stand. Jaune likely believed that he was about to die, it was about time she disabused him of that idea. Her weapons creaked under her tight grip as she felt her vision spill over with red, emerald eyes coming to rest hatefully on the creature that might have stolen everything from her.

Before she could step forward, a flash of blue drowned the fires of her rage. Jaune had shot a glance at the battered boy behind him, blue eyes passing unknowingly over her position before shifting back to the Ursa.

She's seen it in that brief moment. Jaune's eyes hadn't been full of fear or despair, only steely determination as he'd redoubled his efforts to push back against the massive beast; One of his legs shook under the pressure, on the verge of giving out entirely. Blue eyes as deep and gentle as a calm inland sea flared like a storm surge, darkening with a single-minded fury as team JNPR's leader locked eyes with the beast forcing him to his knees.

Beside her, Weiss spun her sword around and readied an attack.

"Wait!" Pyrrha cried, catching the heiress off guard, as Jaune pushed. The Ursa had no time to react as its weight was thrown violently to the side, and it staggered right into Jaune's blade. Team JNPR's leader wasted no time on technique, stepping forward with his shove to catch the falling beast with a crude slash that sent it reeling. Crocea Mors flashed wickedly in the sunlight, its keen edge biting into the massive Grimm.

It didn't cut deep enough. Even as the Ursa staggered back from the force of the blow, its cruel red eyes were focusing on its attacker. A massive paw speared its claws forward in a move no normal animal would try, but Jaune threw himself to the side and it only buried itself in the dirt. Still, those hateful red eyes remained locked on its target. The Ursa tore its claws out in a horizontal swipe that sent dirt and stone flying like missiles, but Jaune jumped over it.

A mistake. The Ursa caught the blonde in the air and batted him across the clearing like a plaything, only for Jaune to surge to his feet mid-tumble and lunge back into the fray with a clumsy leaping slash that the Ursa sidestepped easily. Once more, a massive paw slammed home, sending Jaune crashing into the dirt with a strangled cry.

Jaune picked himself up more slowly this time, and as his eyes glanced down at his shield Pyrrha's scroll let out a warning chime, one she didn't need to check to know what it said: Jaune's Aura was dangerously low. Fearful emerald eyes went wide, and she would have stepped forward were it not for the way Jaune's face set with fierce determination. Deep blue eyes flicked from where Cardin was still on the ground and back to the Ursa before hardening, and the leader of team JNPR let out a defiant cry as he threw himself forward into what would be the final exchange. One way or another.

Pyrrha's heart pounded frantically in her throat as time seemed to slow. For just a moment, she saw everything both fighters had to offer: The Ursa lunged forward with massive claws poised to take her leader's head from his shoulders as Jaune stepped into the blow, his shield falling as made to bet his life on one final stab.

He'd never make it in time, and with Miló currently in its sword form, neither could she. In desperation she reached out with her semblance, wrapping it around the metal in his armor and preparing to throw him to safety. His sword was too small, even if she could tear it from his hands without taking his arm with it his grip would slow it too much to kill the beast. Throwing him was a risky maneuver, one that could snap his neck or smash his brain against the inside of his own skull, but it was all she could think of.

'I never will be if everyone keeps saying I'm not ready and refusing to give me a chance.'

Her mind flashed to stormy blue eyes, flashing with determination as a teenager momentarily found the strength to overpower a massive monster; Her eyes—and semblance—focused on his shield. She could move it. Just enough to buy him a moment, just enough to give him a chance.

In the silence between one frantic beat of her heart and the next, she made her decision.

Her semblance dragged the shield up and into position just in time for it to catch the Ursa's next blow, its claws sparking off of the symbol of the Arcs as Jaune's foot slammed down under the sudden weight with enough force to kick up the leaves around him… and held. He'd only have a moment, one singular moment in which he was inside the Ursa's guard, but those stubborn blue eyes had never left their target and Jaune didn't waste it. Team JNPR's leader exploded upwards, and this time his aim was true, Crocea Mors biting eagerly into the flesh of its enemy as it rent the Ursa's head from its body.

There was a beat of stunned silence as the Ursa's head and body fell in opposite directions to crash into the earth with a sound like distant thunder. Pyrrha let out a long breath and blinked her way back into the present, darting a glance towards where her outstretched hand still had her semblance wrapped protectively around her leader and consciously forcing it back even as a relieved, proud, smile worked its way across her features.

"Uh… What?" Ruby asked from beside her, reminding the red-haired champion that she was hardly alone.

"How did you…?" Weiss chimed in from Pyrrha's other side, bright blue eyes darting back and forth between Pyrrha and her partner with obvious curiosity.

"Well…" Pyrrha started hesitantly, suddenly aware of the ramification of what she'd just done. Pyrrha Nikos was The Champion, The Invincible Girl; Her sponsors and trainers had been very careful to instill in her the importance of keeping one of the keys to that success a secret. There were many fighters with powerful semblances, but everything had a weakness that could be exploited with enough time and thought. Keeping her semblance a secret allowed her to flex in subtle ways during fights, giving her an indispensable advantage. That wasn't to say she used it as a crutch, of course—she had more than enough skill to dismantle most opponents with ease—but Beacon attracted many talented students. Students that could use the knowledge she was about to reveal to shatter the illusion of invincibility she and her trainers had worked so hard to cultivate.

'Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who it is you're talking to?' 'Not in the slightest, Snow Angel.'

Her team flashed through her mind, maybe breaking that image wasn't something she needed to fear.

"Ruby has her speed, you have your Glyphs." She took a deep breath, "My semblance is polarity."

"Woah…" Ruby said, her voice soft with awe, "You can control poles…"

"No you dunce, it means she has control over magnetism." Weiss sniped before Pyrrha had a chance to more… delicately correct the younger girl's assumption.

"Magnets are cool too…" Ruby said dreamily, apparently inoculated against her partner's snappish attitude. Pyrrha chuckled lightly to herself at her friend's antics, taking one last lingering look at where her team leader was straightening up before turning her back on him.

"Wait, where are you going?" Weiss asked, turning after her, eyes confused.

"Yeah," Ruby chimed in, "We gotta tell them what happened!"

Pyrrha's eyes drifted over to Jaune, whose shoulders were straightening proudly for the first time in weeks as he sheathed his weapon. "We could." She admitted as Jaune took his first step towards the fallen bully, his gait determined and filled with a confidence she hadn't seen in him before, "Or perhaps we could just keep it our little secret."

Weiss and Ruby exchanged a look, but followed her without complaint. It didn't take much longer for their teams to find them with Goodwitch in tow but Pyrrha left recounting the story to Ruby, who took to it with gusto, making use of several sound-effects and gestures she was quite confident did not actually pertain to the battle she'd witnessed.

The relieved voices of her friends filled her ears, and for the first time in what felt like weeks Pyrrha just enjoyed the feeling of the sun on her skin and the wind in her hair. The world finally felt right again.

/*/

Professor Goodwitch wasted little time establishing order, stern emerald eyes flashing dangerously as she secured the area and swept both boys away for medical attention and questioning. It wasn't until later, when she felt that she'd given Jaune enough time to think things through, that she finally found him.

Perhaps it only made sense that fate conspired to have her find him on the roof where this had all started.

"No Cardin tonight?" She probed, she'd not actually heard what had become of the bully and could admit to being a little curious, "I thought you too were best buds?"

In retrospect, perhaps that could have been interpreted to be a little accusatory. Jaune certainly seemed to take it that way as he turned to root her in place with his deep blue eyes. She never understood how he could be so utterly open, unafraid or unwilling to hide his every emotion from her as they swirled through his ocean eyes. "Pyrrha, I'm sorry." He said softly, and she could feel his shame, disappointment and regret.

He didn't make any excuses, didn't flinch from admitting where he was wrong, he simply laid out his perceived sins with an earnest honesty that took her breath away. Pyrrha felt a soft smile curve her lips even as a pang when through her heart. Jaune was really going to just take responsibility for all the tension and dysfunction their team had gone through over the past few weeks, wasn't he? The pang in her heart grew, and she knew she had to cut him off. "Jaune." She said forcefully, knocking him out of his self-recrimination, "It's okay." Jaune twitched, deep blue eyes registering surprise, and she gave him a relieved smile of her own. She didn't have the words yet, not to really express how she felt, but she poured all of her relief and happiness at having him back into that smile. "Your team really misses their leader, you know." She said softly. Jaune looked shocked, but then his lips curved up in a soft, incredulous smile.

Ren was right. She thought to herself, face flushing with happiness, all I needed to do was wait and give him a chance.

"You should come down." She said, turning away abruptly and breaking eye contact, "Ren made pancakes~" She paused by the door, a thought hitting her, "No syrup though, you can thank Nora for that." She might still be slightly irritated that Nora had slurped down her first jar of sap, even if it had allegedly been with her best interests in mind.

"Wait!" Jaune called out, stopping her in her tracks. She turned back to him, emerald eyes curious. He seemed to struggle with his words for a moment before his eyes darkened with determination. "I know I don't deserve it after all that happened." He said hesitantly, "But would you still be willing to help me…?" He took a deep breath, his back straightening as he met her eyes with a confidence she hadn't seen from him before his encounter in Forever Fall, "To help me become a better fighter."

She couldn't help it. Pyrrha turned away to hide the wide grin that played out across her lips, almost giggling out loud at the shocked look that passed across her leader's face as she put her back to him. If anyone asked she did it just to tease him because really, how could he possibly have any doubts that she'd say no? The truth, however, was that she simply wasn't ready for him to see the overjoyed smile she couldn't hide. Something warm and happy and wonderful danced through her gut, and she could almost scream her joy to the soft lights that blanked Beacon at night.

She loved Beacon at night. The gentle lights of the school reminded her that she had her own home now, and the silly, awkward, wonderful boy that had given it to her.

Emerald eyes narrowed in anticipation, and she utilized all of her public relations training to hide her smile as she spun around to approach Jaune. The boy stiffened at her approach, somehow managing to look both hopeful and nervous at the same time as he stood at awkward attention. He was unbalanced and stiff, something she quickly sought to correct by playfully shoving him to the ground. "Hey…" He whined, looking up at her like a scorned puppy.

"Your stance is all wrong." Pyrrha noted playfully, cocking her hip as she fixed him with a teasing smirk, "You need to be wider and lower to the ground."

Jaune took a moment to process that information, and his smile when she offered her hand was blinding.

Pyrrha pulled her partner to his feet, green eyes locked with blue, and said the words that would bind them: "Let's try that again." Both parties seemed to understand that she was referring to more than just his stance.

"Let's." Jaune murmured, his voice soft but determined as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

/*/

"So what happened to Cardin?" Pyrrha asked later as they sat together overlooking the lights.

"Oh, he just got knocked around a bit by the Ursa." Jaune answered casually, "Nothing big, I think the shock of the whole thing was worse for him than anything else."

Pyrrha frowned slightly, that hadn't been what she'd meant. The pieces of a suspiciously empty jar flashed through her mind. "Jaune." She said diplomatically, "I can't help but suspect that Cardin was somewhat complicit in the Ursa's presence."

To her surprise, Jaune let out an awkward chuckle as he scratched the hair at the back of his head. "That… might have been me actually." He confessed haltingly. Shocked green eyes met his, and he chuckled nervously again before elaborating. "He had this whole plan, see? He wanted to nail… someone, with a jar of the sap and let some rapier wasps at 'em. I guess he wanted me to be the one to throw it though and I, uh, let him know that I didn't want to. Messily."

Pyrrha blinked, her mind flashing back to the scene she'd stumbled into while stepping out of the woods; More specifically, the purple sap that had clung to Cardin's breastplate. An incredulous laugh slipped through her lips before she slapped a hand across her mouth, coloring slightly.

Jaune just chuckled, "No, no, I guess it is pretty funny." He said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, "I mean, I knew I was gonna have to pay for it, but I never thought I'd be getting slapped around by an Ursa on top of Cardin and his team."

That little tidbit drained the humor from the situation, "On top of…?"

"It's in the past." Jaune said hurriedly, flushing slightly at his slip-up.

"Jaune." She made to stand up, eyes flashing like blades as she contemplated exactly what he'd just said, when a gentle hand landed on her shoulder.

"Pyrrha." He said, and it was the gentle humor in his voice as he parroted her tone that really gave her pause, "It's okay, Cardin and I worked it all out in the end. I won't be running around for him anymore."

His hand was warm, and she had to fight the sudden urge to lean into it. "It's not okay." She tried to argue, but that steady hand made it difficult to doubt his conviction, "He shouldn't just get away with everything he put you through."

Jaune just shrugged, withdrawing his hand (That time she did catch herself leaning into it slightly, chasing that steady warmth, before she forced herself to hold still) and staring out across the lights of Beacon. "Maybe…" He said quietly, "But… I mean…Is what Cardin did that much better than what I did?" His hand had taken up permanent residence on the back of his neck, and the look he shot her was equal parts apology and reluctant determination.

Pyrrha's frown deepened, "That's not true!" She argued flatly, "You did what you did to improve yourself, Cardin's just some jerk trying to flaunt his power over people he thinks are weaker than him."

"Can't really argue with that assessment of the guy." Jaune said with a rueful chuckle, "But, I mean, I wonder who'd really still be here if everything came out."

"No one deserves to be here more than you!" Pyrrha said hotly.

"And you know that's not true." Jaune answered back without a moment's hesitation, "Look, Pyrrha, this isn't how I meant this to go." He hesitated, then fixed her with a surprisingly steady look, "Pyrrha, I'm lucky to have you, have I ever told you that?"

To her horror Pyrrha felt her cheeks darken, she was lucky it was so dark that she doubted he noticed. "I—"

"I'm serious. I don't deserve this second chance you're giving me, and as soon as I tell Ren and Nora, I'm sure I won't deserve their forgiveness either. Thing is, it seems to me that if I get all these chances, the least I could do was give Cardin one."

Pyrrha… Didn't know what to say. That didn't stop her though, "You're more of a Huntsman than Cardin will ever be."

Jaune looked away, which was fortunate because Pyrrha was fairly certain her face had turned as red as her hair at that slip-up. She couldn't see his face, but his nervous laugh told her how embarrassed he was. "I don't know about that." He said modestly, "But, I mean, maybe this'll be the push Cardin needs to be a better Huntsman. Although honestly, I'd settle on him being a bit of a nicer person."

This silly boy. She had no idea how he hadn't realized that that was exactly what she'd meant.

"Look," Jaune said with a hint of anxiety bleeding into his tone, "I'm not asking you to like the guy, just maybe don't go burying him before he has a chance to have a change of heart."

Pyrrha was silent for a time, perhaps too long based on how Jaune appeared to get increasingly nervous from beside her, but finally she gave him a reluctant nod. "If… that's the decision you've made, I'll respect it." She said, not necessarily agreeing with him but not disagreeing either.

It was enough for her team leader, who gave her a smile that made her heart flutter. "Thanks Pyrrha." He murmured, leaning over to gently bump her shoulder with his own. She found herself chasing that warmth as it withdrew, scooting ever so slightly closer to him. A comfortable silence fell over the pair, and she found herself relaxing muscles she hadn't even realized she'd been holding taut.

And then he leaned back, his hand coincidently brushing against her own.

Pyrrha's heartrate skyrocketed, electricity lighting up every nerve in her body in a way that not even combat could replicate. She was suddenly hyperaware of the distance between them, the lines of his body, the curve of his lips. Against her will one of her fingers twitched, inching ever so slightly closer to one of his own before she caught the motion and shoved the perpetrator into her lap.

Fortunately for her, Jaune seemed unaware of his partner's sudden dilemma. Clear blue eyes looked out over the lights of Beacon with a calm tranquility he'd not possessed before and she watched out of the corner of her eye as his shoulders relaxed. He'd… really changed, hadn't he?

Her mind flashed back to the moment her soul had touched his, to the pure white glow that had been within him all along. No, he hadn't changed, he'd simply moved past the fear that had been holding him back. She found her eyes drawn to him once more, roving over the changes in his expression, trying to puzzle him out.

"We should head back." He murmured, breaking through her thoughts and making her flinch slightly. "I don't want to make our team wait much longer."

"I—Yes, of course." She stammered, tripping over her tongue in a way she never had before. Thankfully, Jaune didn't notice, and she quickly covered her slip-up by pulling herself to her feet and offering her partner a hand up. Jaune accepted it with a meek smile, apparently oblivious to the way her cheeks colored slightly at the contact, and she easily pulled him to his feet to cover it.

A low rumble split the night, and Jaune let out a chuckle, "How much you wanna bet Nora's already gone through all the pancakes?" Jaune asked ruefully.

Pyrrha's lips curved into an amused grin, "Odds aren't good for you." She said truthfully.

Jaune's laughter was bright and honest, like warm sunlight in her ears, and she found herself laughing along with him. "That's true." He chuckled, "Maybe I can convince Ren to make us some more. I should tell them the truth, and it might take a while."

Pyrrha sobered slightly, catching the note of anxiety that hid in his words. Hesitantly, she found her hand reaching out for him. She came close, so agonizingly close before her nerves got the better of her. Jaune looked up, startled blue eyes meeting her own as she settled a hand on his shoulder. "We'll tell them together." She said, her voice far more steady than she herself felt.

It was enough. Jaune's eyes cleared, crinkling slightly around the edges as he gave her a smile that made her heart dance. "Yeah." He said, his voice growing more confident, "I guess I don't have to do anything alone anymore. Thanks… Partner."

Hours later, when questions had been asked and answered, Pyrrha found herself once more alone in their dorm room with Ren and Nora. The soft hum of the shower told her that Jaune was occupied, which was good… She had her own apology to make.

"Thank you." She said quietly, "Both of you. You were right about what he needed."

Nora smiled, but shrugged graciously, "It's what friends do." She chirped happily.

Pyrrha smiled, her heart swelling at the words. Friends. They really were friends, weren't they? The thought was accompanied by a spike of guilt as she reflected on the distance that had grown between them recently, at the time she'd thought her teammates had grown distant as they'd retreated into the comfort of one another, and while she was certain that the thought contained a seed of truth she was beginning to realize that the problem had just as much to do with her. In a way, Ren and Nora had been left alone. Their leader had fallen into the clutches of a bully while she'd been lost to the confusion within her own heart.

"I'm… I'm sorry." She said quietly, shame winding its way around her throat like creeping vines.

To her shock, Ren and Nora just exchanged a confused look, "What for?" Nora said, tilting her head inquisitively.

She couldn't look at them, couldn't stand to see the truth on their faces when it finally dawned on them what she was speaking of. Her tightly clasped hands were much more fitting company. "I… I shouldn't have been so distant… I've endangered our partnership, I shouldn't have pushed you away and—"

Pyrrha's aura flashed as her face was embedded into a pillow travelling at Mach speeds. She rocked backwards, stars flashing across her vision as she vaguely felt her body slump limply onto her bed. So this… is what defeat feels like? The Invincible Girl thought.

Her suffering had only begun. "How could you think that!?" Nora tutted, sweeping Pyrrha up like an unruly child. Pyrrha's limbs flopped bonelessly about as the shorter girl sat her up with surprising ease and gripped her in a tight hug. "You're our friend Pyrrha." Nora whispered, "You needed space, that's not something we'd be mad about."

Pyrrha felt her face flush, and Nora giggled happily at the reaction; At least until Ren, without even looking up from putting his weapons away, calmly said: "Nora. You're strangling her."

"Er, whoops…" Nora cringed as she released Pyrrha, whose color improved almost immediately as she gulped in desperate gasps of air.

"What Nora's trying to say is that you hardly have anything to be sorry for." Ren put in, "People need their space. We can hardly fault you for being upset and needing time."

Pyrrha might have said something in return, but her lungs were still burning and so she settled on a simple nod. Still, a soft smile played its way across her lips as she massaged her aching ribs.

She'd never realized just how strange friendship could be. It felt… It felt good.

/*/

It shocked her how quickly things returned to normal. Team JNPR/RWBY's table went back to being one of the rowdiest tables in the cafeteria, a fact that was not lost on the staff if the increasingly irritated looks the staff kept giving them was any indication.

Pyrrha smiled to herself as her team leader tried to imitate Yang and catch a grape Nora tossed him, missing terribly, and getting hit in the eye for his trouble. He didn't seem broken up by it, catching her eye with a brilliant smile and a laugh that she found infectious.

A soft sigh escaped her lips and… and she couldn't lie to herself anymore. Could she?

Her lies had fallen down before her eyes when she'd found out the truth of his transcripts. She couldn't deny that he'd snuck his way into Beacon… and… and into her heart.

She sighed again, this time in amused resignation as he tried to catch a syrupy chunk of pancake and ended up with it slapping into his face with a wet thump. She reached forward to offer her napkin but Weiss, ever the neat freak had anticipated the mess and beaten her to the punch. Jaune reached out blindly, accepting the napkin with a mumbled thank you even as he peeled the food from off his face. It happened in just a moment, the Heiresses' skin brushed against Jaune's as he finally got a look at his savior and—

Jaune's face went red, his mouth moving soundlessly before he stammered out another (redundant) thank you.

Pyrrha blinked, her eyes travelling between the blushing boy and the thoroughly oblivious girl.

Oh no.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.


End file.
